Arnold Schwarzenegger was so embarrassed after Last Action Hero debuted that he wanted to go into hiding.
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s film career has had plenty of highs and a few lows, but there was once a time when he was one of the most bankable action stars you could hire. This is why he was apparently devasted when his film Last Action Hero flopped in 1993. In the recent Netflix docuseries, Arnold, the Governator spoke about his state of mind following the movie’s release, saying, “I cannot tell you how upset I was,” adding, “It’s embarrassing… I didn’t want to see anyone for a week.” (via Variety)
The John McTiernan-directed Last Action Hero followed a young action movie fan named Danny (Austin O’Brien), whose magic ticket gets him sucked into the world of his favorite action hero Jack Slater (Arnold Schwarzenegger). The film was a fun enough satire that poked fun at Arnold’s career and has become something of a cult classic, though, at the time, it did not perform up to expectations. Last Action Hero opened to a weak $15.3 million at the domestic box office and finished with $137 million at the global box office against an $85 million budget.
While this isn’t necessarily a flop of epic proportions, it’s far from the expected pull of peak Arnold Schwarzenegger. At the time, Arnie was fresh off the massive success of James Cameron’s Terminator II: Judgement Day, which pulled in a whopping $520.9 million worldwide. This made it the third-highest-grossing film ever at the time, so it’s understandable that Arnie would think that his next film would perform better than it did.
James Cameron even noticed how hard Arnold Schwarzenegger was taking the failure of Last Action Hero, as he had a conversation with him after it opened where he said, “He sounded like he was in bed crying,” adding, “That’s the only time I’ve ever heard him down.” Fortunately, Cameron would help to dig Schwarzenegger out of his funk shortly after with 1994’s True Lies. That film was much better received by audiences and ended up taking home over $378 million at the global box office.
While Arnold Schwarzenegger certainly isn’t the massive box office draw he used to be, there are still plenty of people willing to tune into whatever he’s doing at the moment. Most recently, he had his first leading role in a scripted live-action television series ever with the Netflix series FUBAR, which follows a father and daughter who both work for the CIA and have hidden that fact from the other for years. Along with Schwarzenegger, the series stars Monica Barbaro, Milan Carter, Gabriel Luna, Fortune Feimster, Travis Van Winkle, Fabiana Udenio, Jay Baruchel, Barbara Eve Harris, Aparna Brielle, Andy Buckley, Adam Pally, and Tom Arnold.
So far, FUBAR has been getting average reviews from critics and audiences, but it’s undoubtedly fun seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger back in action. The series is available to stream in its entirety on Netflix now, as is the Arnold docuseries, which follows his life as a bodybuilder, a Hollywood star, and a politician. If you’re waiting to see more films with Arnie in them, you can look forward to his upcoming new film Breakout and his return to his famous Conan role in The Legend of Conan.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qLXAp6ufqpWWuKq60aiZqKxemLyue8Snq2iZoqO8rbCMrJqhr5Gnx6a6xKCenqpdp7KovsStqmaln6u2pnrHraSl